Saving Simple
by parmakai66
Summary: Telling Kim they weren't going to talk about it anymore was one thing ... having it actually happen was another.


A/N: Disclaimer. The Unit and its characters belong to Fox, CBS, Paramount or someone other than me. No infringement intended.

Spell & grammar checked five times, any other mistakes are mine. Rated T for .... the sake of AngieJR and her suggestion that I might pick up a few more readers if I toned it down a bit. (Which was a little hard for me considering I love Bob/Kim fluff.)

Tag to the Spear of Destiny.

Saving simple.

The click of the storage container resonated in the room. Heavy breathing thundered in his ears, but not for any pleasurable reason. He stood in front of the desk, frozen between his duty to tear down the equipment or run to bathroom to hurl in the sink. _Shit, _he muttered in his head. _This whole mission was completely frakked up. _The only thing he had going for him was that he saw it through, that he completed his tasks. The targets were eliminated by an order given from above and it was time to move on.

Yet doing so was going to be complicated for more reasons that Bob Brown even wanted to imagine. He wasn't sorry Isaac Reed was dead. The man tried to kill his wife. The rage of injustice had bubbled under Bob's skin for days after the Colonel had briefed him on the situation. His training had forced him to stow his emotions over it. The Colonel had protected Kim, albeit almost a moment too late. Now Reed admission that he was falling in love with Kim was on an official transcript and Kim's excuse that it was part of a _Colonel Ryan ordered _plot was making Bob sick to his stomach. _Just the thought of that guys hands on my wife. _Bob gritted his teeth and shoved one of the keyboards into the container. "Now I get it why Mack wanted to kill Ryan so fricken bad," he said aloud. "'Cept Reed's dead and I still feel like shit."

_My signing up for this life doesn't give the army the right to put my wife in danger, does it? _Bob asked himself mentally. In the course of his service to the unit, Bob had been ordered to do some terrible things. For the sake of the mission, he got involved in some dangerous liaisons, yet he had never taken it to the step where he would cheat on his wife. _Mack has, Jonas has, _he reminded himself. _Someday I will probably be forced too, _he conceded. Kim? Kim had gotten the information to expose Reed and the guy nearly killed her. _And I could do nothing to save her. _

"Where the frak is she?" he wondered aloud resisting the urge to look out the window. It had been an hour since the hit and she hadn't returned to the room. His gut told him she was spewing the cover story that she had been forced to live for the past few months. _I hope it sticks, _he thought as he ran his finger across the back of the chair. "If she had stayed in the room, there wouldn't be a need for a cover up," he commented tersely. _Maybe that's my fault too. Maybe my comment that I was going to see them off wasn't clear enough for her. She's not in the unit. She doesn't live the lingo. __What was she thinking going into that room? Wasn't she listening to the Reed's when they left the room? What part of we'll just be gone a few minutes wasn't clear? _Bob sighed heavily and trailed his gaze around the room. "Get back to work," he whispered in defeat. Worrying and wondering wasn't going to help anything at this point.

It took Bob less than fifteen minutes to break down the rest of the equipment and stow it away. During which he took a call from the TOC and listened wordlessly to the instructions. _Police on the scene. Stay in the room until zero six hundred then execute your exit strategy. FBI will clean up. _Bob tossed the phone on the bed and stared at his watch. His head hurt, either from the drugs or the worrying, he couldn't tell. He walked into the bathroom to take a leak, drink some mouthwash and try to find a way to make this frakked up mess go away.

00-00

Kim shivered against the squad car while she waiting for someone to take her statement. The air was cold, but it wasn't the temperature that was causing her to tremble. _I really screwed this up, _she thought rubbing her hand across Ella's back. _Bob's going to kill me. He could, very easily. For all the trouble I keep causing him, I'm surprised he hasn't done it already. Maybe when I get back to the room? I'm sure there are more than four bullets in his gun,_ she reminded herself as a plain clothed officer approached her.

The cover story that flew out of her mouth sounded as natural to her as her real life had been. She fudged some of the details convincingly enough to make everyone believe. _Even I believe, _she told herself ruefully as she turned Ella over to the female police officer. Kim waited a few more minutes until the police detective released her and she walked slowly back to the hotel.

_I'm in deep shit, _she cried feeling a tear slip down her cheek. She wiped it off with the back of her hand as she stopped in front of the elevators. _I told Bob I wasn't strong enough for this,_ she cursed. _I have a hole in my heart because I miss my kids, my husband, and my life. _Kim stepped in the elevator and punched the button for the third floor. _Did I really see Ella when I held that baby or was she Emily to me? _Kim questioned herself as the elevator car delivered her to the third floor. _Was I drawn to Isaac because I was lonely? _

"I didn't want Bob to find out, now he practically knows everything," Kim muttered stepping out of the car. "So much for thinking he was going to score," she added with a sadistic chuckle. "That's one way to put it."

Kim stopped outside their room and stuck the key in the locking mechanism. The green light flashed and she slowly pushed the door open. Kim noticed the monitoring equipment had been packed and stowed in front of the bureau. The room seemed eerily quiet.

"Bob?" she called out tentatively as she pushed the door shut. She walked into the interior and nearly jumped out of her skin when she noticed his dark form looming in the bathroom doorway. "Geezus," she shrieked running her hands over her upper arms.

"Are you cold?" he asked walking toward the end of the bed. "Come here," he said putting his arm around her shoulders. "Lie down."

Kim let her husband guide her toward the bed. Her senses were numb, her brain still trying to process the images from a few hours ago. _My husband shot the Reed's, _she thought sitting down on the edge. She looked up into his eyes and was confused by the expression that was emanating from them. _Should I be trusting him right now? He's carrying a gun with a silencer. _

"I don't want to sit down," Kim blurted out darting off the bed and out of his grasp. "Stay away from me," she added ducking his arm.

"Kim," Bob called to her as she backed into the bathroom.

_Shit! _Kim cursed under her breath realizing that Bob had her pinned against the vanity and blocked her only exit to the door. She felt her heart racing in her chest and heard the thudding pounding in her ear.

"Kim? Are you okay?" Bob asked her softly.

Kim looked at her husband suspiciously. "Yeah, I'm fine," she replied waving her hand around nonchalantly. "The cover story has been planted." She sighed heavily and avoided any eye contact with him as she tried to wrap her head around what had just happened.

"Good," Bob replied keeping the irritation out of his voice. "We have about ninety minutes before we have to get on the road, so you should rest."

"Yeah, can you just give me a minute though?" Kim asked him tilting her head in a cutesy manner.

"Sure," Bob muttered backing out of the room.

Kim watched him leave and turned to face the mirror as soon as the door clicked. She could barely think straight much less stand in front of the man that just killed two people in cold blood. _No emotion, _she thought remembering the cold hard stare he gave her when they passed in the alley. _He didn't feel anything about this? _Kim wondered silently. _Other than he just found out that I was on the way to cheating on him. If Isaac was a woman, I'd probably want to kill the guy too. Except I'd do it slowly and make him suffer. _Kim ran warm water over her hands and splashed it on her face. "What does it matter anyway?" she whispered at her reflection. She patted her face dry and heading back into the main room.

00-00

Sleep did not come easy for either of them. Kim played a good game of possum while Bob curled against her back protectively. The sound of her breathing told him she was awake. He didn't need the words to be verbalized to know what was going through her head. It wasn't Kim's nature to just let something go. She needed to beat it to death with the broomstick first. When they got up to leave, he was going to make a stern suggestion, but in his heart, he knew she wasn't going to let it be. _Maybe it's better for both of us to get it out in the open, _he thought watching his wife next to him. _Otherwise, it's gonna be a long drive home. _

Kim barely did anything to help him pack as they were getting ready to leave. She sat at the end of the bed with a numb expression on her face. Bob knew better than to engage her in conversation. She was in shock and getting past this wasn't going to be as easy as one, two, three.

"It was never the plan to give them immunity was it?" Kim finally asked Bob as he packed the last of the gear into his bag.

Bob sighed heavily and processed her statement. She had to have known it was going to end this way. _Let's just overstate the obvious__. _"Involved in the assignation of the vice president, tried to kill you … I guess not," Bob replied coolly.

"Now Ella's going to be an orphan," Kim muttered standing up to face him.

Bob analyzed the look on her face and tried to judge her emotional stability. Any discussion about what happened tonight wasn't going anywhere good. Between his wanting to know what happened between Kim and Reed to the mission sanctity, Bob need to close it up. _Quickly. _"We're not going to talk about it anymore, Kim," he said flatly. "Any of it."

"And I got you steady enough to pull the trigger," Kim remarked with a sarcastic tone.

"I wish you hadn't seen that," Bob said looking her dead in the eye.

"A normal man says he wished he hadn't done it," Kim retorted with a sad expression on her face.

"It's time to go," Bob remarked nodding toward the door. Her words were hardly the closing he was looking for, and knowing his wife like he did ….this conversation wasn't over by a long shot.

00-00

_Noon. _Bob stared at the time on the radio display and glanced over at Kim sitting next to him. She hadn't said a word since the standoff in the parking garage at the hotel. _You want to drive? _she had asked with a tone that said, _I'm not in the mood to drive so don't even ask. _Then she got in the car and stared blankly out the window for the trip. Sometimes she slept, but mostly she just stared out the window at nothing.

Bob felt his eyelids getting heavy and shuffled around in the seat to try to wake up. He stared at his watch mindlessly and exhaled heavily. "You wanna stop and get something to eat?" he asked Kim

"Yeah," she whispered without looking at him.

_This ought to be a fun meal,_ he thought aiming the car for the exit ramp. He drove into the lot of the truck stop and parked. Bob followed Kim into the restaurant and slid into a booth across from her. He picked up the menu as the tell-tale sounds of a diner carried on in the background. The clinking of dishes, the shouts of the kitchen staff, the swoosh of coffee being poured into a cup.

"Is your stomach still upset?" Kim asked looking down at the menu. "Chicken noodle is the soup of the day."

"Yeah, that sounds good to me," Bob mumbled sticking the menu back behind the sugar dispenser. "What're you getting?"

"Chicken tenders and mashed potatoes," she said fanning herself with the menu.

"You okay?" Bob asked when he noticed the color draining from her face.

"I'm going to hurl," Kim blurted out as she darted from the booth.

Bob watched as she ran across the restaurant and into the women's restroom. He leaned against the seatback and ran his hand across his brow. _Shit, _he cursed feeling sick to his stomach himself.

00-00

"Ma'm are you okay in there?" the accented voice asked Kim through the door.

"Yeah," Kim muttered standing up flushing the toilet with her foot. She pulled a length of toilet paper from the dispenser and wiped her face.

"Your husband asked me to check on you," the woman said from the other side of the door. "He said you weren't feeling well and I packaged up some soup for both of you to go."

"Thanks," Kim said when she opened the stall door and stopped abruptly. Kim had expected an older, weathered, gum-smacking female, but the voice didn't match the woman standing in front of her. The server was younger, pretty and friendly.

"Here's some alka-seltzer and gum," the server said handing Kim a familiar blue packet. "Your husband went to put gas in the car," the woman added warmly. "He's real nice and cute. You're lucky."

Kim plastered on a fake smile and went to the sink to wash up. She watched the waitress leave the room quietly as she splashed cool water on her face. _And he kills people for a living, _Kim reaffirmed in her head as she patted her face dry and stuck a stick of gum in her mouth. _I know that, so why am I so repulsed by it? _Kim questioned as she stared at her reflection in the mirror.

She emerged from the diner a few minutes later and walked over to the car. Bob was washing the windows and looked up at her as she approached. "You feelin better?" he asked.

"A little, the waitress gave me something for my stomach," she said standing across the hood from him. An awkward silence fell between them as they stared at each other.

"Do you want to drive?" he asked breaking the silence.

"I didn't sleep with him," Kim replied indignantly.

"Kim, I said we weren't going to talk about it. None of it," Bob reminded her sharply. He tossed the window wiper brush back into its reservoir and glared across the hood at her. "I'll drive," he retorted stepping over to open the door.

"Why is this always about what you want?" she questioned him, refusing to open the door. "I need to talk about it."

Bob stopped mid yank of the door and stared blindly into space. _Is this what I get for bringing my wife on a mission? She did the same damn thing in Mexico! _"Get in the car," he said aloud calmly.

"No…I want ta"

"Kim, we'll talk about it okay? Just," Bob looked around to see if anyone was listening. "Just not here." He looked over to her for confirmation and noticed the pouty expression on her face. "What?"

"This isn't one of your lies where you just say we're going to talk about it and then we never talk about it, is it?" Kim asked crossing her arms at her chest.

"Have I ever lied to you?" Bob asked her crisply mentally wincing because there was about nine ways she could go with that. He watched her tilt her head in defeat. "Get in the car."

00-00

They drove for another three hours until Bob felt secure that no one from the gas station had called the cops on them or that they were being followed by _anybody. _He pulled the car off on a side road, drove for a few minutes and put the car in park. _This is the moment of truth, _he told him glancing at Kim sideways. _She seems nervous, _he noted as he opened the door and got out of the car. Bob walked into the brush and took a leak on the side of the road. _Nothing good is going to come from this conversation, _he thought as he walked slowly back to the car. _I'm in control. I'm a ranger. A trained assassin. My wife will not intimidate me, _he told himself firmly. He looked up as he approached the vehicle and noticed Kim hadn't moved from the passenger seat. _Well, at least she opened the door, _he commented walking over to last few feet to the car.

"I know you didn't sleep with him," Bob said quietly. He leaned against the side of the car, watching as Kim climbed out. "I trust you," he added locking his green eyes on her hazel ones.

"Do you? Cause you questioned it at the hotel room," Kim replied coolly.

"I wasn't questioning …" Bob spurted half out and exhaled loudly. "I wasn't questioning your integrity. I was just surprise that the colonel hadn't briefed me on _that _part of your mission."

"I asked him not too," Kim said quietly.

"What?" Her statement caught him completely off guard. "What'd'ya mean you asked him not too?" Kim started to walk away from the car and he hooked her arm to pull her back. "Kim?" he questioned her when he realized she was trying to hide something.

"I asked him not to tell you because," her voice trailed off and she looked everywhere but in his eyes. "Because a distracted soldier is a dead soldier," she whispered. She walked a few steps away from the car to get away from his glaring eyes.

Bob watched her walk away and knew she was lying_. __Maybe she did want to sleep with him, _he pondered as he stared at the door of the car. _No, not Kim. The idea of sleeping with him may have been tempting, but she would have never gone through with it, _he convinced himself. It took him a second to realize Kim was babbling on in the background about something.

"…I'm not stupid, I know what you do … I just don't want to see it."

"If you would have stayed in the room like I asked you, you wouldn't have had to see it," Bob retorted defensively catching up with the conversation.

"You didn't ask me to stay in the room," Kim snarked back at him.

"Yes, I did … you just chose not to listen, like you do all the time," Bob said crisply. "I specifically told you to stay in the room while I went to see them off."

"I listen to you!" Kim fired back. "You didn't ask me to stay in the room, you told me! Another order." She waved her hand around in frustration and rocked back on her feet.

"I gave you an order? Ha, at best I made a suggestion after you accused me of going to buy drugs! A suggestion that, again, you didn't listen too!" Bob yelled at her leaning forward on his feet.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Kim balked not wanted to admit her heinous error.

"What the hell were you thinking going into that room in the first place? Did you even consider what would have happened while you were taking the baby out for fresh air and her parents came back?" Bob implored of her. He threw his arms up in the air and paced around her resting his hands on his hips. He was agitated for too many reasons to count. "You listened to the same conversation as I did. They said they would only be gone a few minutes."

"I'm …," Kim burbled, walking to the side of the car and slumping against it. "I ah … I don't know what I was thinkin," she practically whispered. "She was sick and needed her medicine." Kim made eye contact with Bob and felt his eyes burning a hole right through her. Before she could do anything to stop it, tears flooded over the rims of her eyes and streamed down her face. "I told you I wasn't strong enough for this! I miss the kids and you and yeah! I treated Ella like she was Emily. And I didn't want you to know about Isaac because part of me … the lonely part … might have done it."

Bob stared at her in disbelief and felt his world come crushing in on him. _She would have… _the words sprinted through his head before he could even latch onto the concept. _Why wouldn't she? I'm never around. The kids are with her parents. Why would she put up with that? _He turned to the side with a perplexed expression on his face.

"You wa… you would have slept with him?" he muttered under his breath. Just mouthing the words sucked the air right out of his lungs. The army prepared him for many things, but not a revelation from his wife that she would have cheated on him.

"I'm sorry, Bob," Kim sobbed dropping to her knees at the side of the car. "When I wasn't around him I thought I could never … but when I was with him ….I want to tell you that I wouldn't have. He just said all the right things..." Her voice trailed off as her voice choked in her throat.

_He played her, _Bob thought feeling the rage he felt in the hotel room burn in his throat. The same rage he felt weeks ago when he and Kim played out the ruse with Isaac to get into his organization. _When he as much told me he was going to sleep with Kim, _Bob reminded himself sharply. _All part of this damn plot someone in Washington had involved them in like some lousy television drama. _Bob ran his hand across his brow and dropped his arms to his side. He could hardly blame Kim. She didn't ask to be involved in any of this. _I should have gone to law school, _he thought swallowing hard. Bob closed his eyes and reeled in his emotions just like he did on a mission. Kim needed him to be so much more than the asshole guy that was yelling at her a second ago.

Bob closed the gap between them and knelt down at Kim's side. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled Kim into his chest. "Hey, shhh, it's okay," he whispered into her hair. He held her without saying another word as she cried out the pain in her heart. He was strong for her while she broke down around him.

"I'm sorry Bob," she mumbled after about five minutes. Kim pulled back to look him in the eye with a tear stained face.

He ran his hand down the side of her chin and cupped her face in his hand. "You may have been tempted Kim, but I know you. I know you," he said softly leaning forward to kiss her forehead.

"Are you sure about that? I pawned my wedding ring to try to run away," she commented wiping the wetness from her face.

"Well, there was that," Bob remarked with a serious tone in his voice but a sparkle in his hazel eyes. "Of course you were trying to run to our kids, so I guess I can forgive you."

"Do you forgive me for all of it?" she asked tentatively.

"On two conditions," he said with one of those tones of his that meant business. He locked his gaze on her for a moment and then stood up. He held his hand out to Kim, helped her to her feet, and then slid his arm around her shoulder.

"What two conditions?" she questioned him with a tinge of fear in her voice.

Bob felt her hand move to the waistband of his jeans. _Is she … she is. She's checking to see if I'm still carrying the gun, _he noted in his head as she trembled against his chest. _Does she think I'm going to kill her? Did seeing this make her afraid of me? _Intertwining his fingers around hers, he pulled her hand to his chest. "One, we leave it here, in the middle of nowhere, and not discuss it again. The job is over and you need to let it go," he said flatly.

"Ella?"

"She was just a character in that chapter of the story," Bob said shaking his head without emotion. He reached out and caught a tear as it rolled down her cheek.

Kim swallowed hard and nodded. "And the second part?"

He looked deep into her eyes and brushed his thumb over her cheek. "No secrets between us, ever. Do you understand?" Bob asked her quietly. "There's things I can't talk about because of work but that has nothing to do with our relationship. If I'm not there enough for you or missing something … we need to talk about it. I don't want to let you down Kim. I don't want to lose you over something simple while I'm out saving the world."

He watched Kim bite her lip and nod as more tears streamed out of her eyes. Bob resisted the urge to pull her close and hold her tight. He needed to see her answer in her eyes. A confirmation of what he was asking of her. "Kim?" he prodded when she said nothing.

"You don't feel anything about it Bob? Honestly?"

"Kim he tried to kill you. He held a gun to your head and had every intention of pulling the trigger," Bob said tersely feeling the muscles of his jaw clench tightly in his face. "I feel a lot of things, but I'm not sorry that I was given that order."

"I don't know how you can just lock it up like that," Kim muttered quietly casing her gaze away. "It haunts me," she whispered under her breath.

"You don't have to deal with it alone Kim," he said quietly appealing to that broken side of her strength.

"How can I deal with it if I can't talk about it?" she cried attempting to pull away from her husband.

Bob didn't let her go; instead, he pulled her close. He tangled his hands into her hair and brushed his lips against her cheek. "Babe, you take care of me, of our family all the time. Let me help you this one time."

"Bob," Kim muttered pulling out of his grasp again.

He looked into her eyes and for the first time really saw the fear that had settled behind her shield. Fear wasn't something in Kim Brown's vocabulary, yet it was staring him right in face. "Do you trust me?" he asked. Based on her reaction, he immediately regretted it. _She felt me up for the gun. She's trembling against me. _"On our kids life Kim, I would never hurt you. You've got to believe that," he told her being as genuine as he could. He searched her eyes for some type of confirmation but saw nothing but confusion. "Don't you think I feel like an ass because I couldn't protect you?" he asked stepping away from the embrace.

"You said I was using you as my science project," Kim said suddenly angry. "You didn't want me there, yet you couldn't have done it without me."

"I didn't want you there because… tah … geezus it's complicated," Bob said turning away from her again. "I didn't want you there and yet I did. I needed you there because I couldn't have done it without you," Bob grumbled looking back to here. "I can't be without you."

The couple said nothing for a moment, not that anything needed to be said. The emotion was raw between them and as quietly as their argument erupted, it settled between them the same way.

"I don't like what this had done to us Bob," she said digging the toe of her shoe into the dirt.

"I could always go to law school," he remarked shrugging his shoulders.

"Law school would make you miserable," Kim replied reaching out for his hand. "You never wanted to go to law school. You just said that to make me happy."

"I'd do whatever you wanted to make you happy," he said pulling her against his body again. He turned and started to walk to the car.

"Then do what you do best Bob," Kim informed him. "Just … I don't want to see it and if it's something that is going to make me mad," she exhaled loudly and stopped walking. She turned to face him again. "I don't think I want you to tell me. Just... keep it simple."

"I'll do whatever it takes to save simple," he said kissing her forehead.

The End


End file.
